The American Image Awards celebrated its 50th anniversary this week, honoring leaders across apparel. For a curator of lingerie history, such events are never just about the present moment; they are connective tissue to the underlayers of fashion's past. Honoree Zac Posen, now of Gap Inc., began his career in the late 90s—a period that witnessed the mainstreaming of the 'underwear as outerwear' trend, a concept pioneered decades earlier by designers like Rudi Gernreich. Meanwhile, Fabletics, named Company of the Year, operates in the activewear space that owes a debt to the foundational innovations of brands like Jantzen, which in the early 20th century transformed restrictive swimwear into flexible, body-conscious knitwear, paving the way for modern comfort. The Icon Award presented to artist Ruben Toledo, who designed the evening's statuette with his late wife, designer Isabel Toledo, reminds us that the most enduring style is built on partnership and precise intention—principles as vital to the construction of a corset as to a canvas. As Posen himself reflected on creativity being 'the air that I breathed,' we are reminded that the intimate apparel industry has long been the quiet engine of technical innovation, its stitches and structures continually influencing the silhouette of fashion at large. The evening wasn't about lingerie, yet its historical echoes were unmistakably present in the conversations about craft, community, and the personal foundations of public style.
Originally reported by WWD